Good ideas are valuable
An inevitable question for anyone who works with the same processes every day or repeatedly hears similar requests from customers is ‘Can we do this better?’. Often it’s the details that make a big difference in efficiency, safety or quality. At SPIE we set great store by our employees’ insider expertise and encourage them to submit suggestions for improvement throughout the year. A diverse jury comprising employees, managers and Works Council members evaluates the ideas according to criteria including process improvement, cost-effectiveness and commitment and then selects the best suggestions. This year the jury again found three ideas that stood out.
‘Once again the three winning ideas show how innovative and creative our colleagues at SPIE are.’
Clarissa Hack, coordinator of the idea contest
First place and an award of € 3000 went to Simon Dahm for his idea of making special air guides for server racks. The air guides prevent warm outgoing air from mixing with incoming cooling air, which increases the efficiency of data centres. Tobias Fallet won second place and € 2000 for suggesting a flexible new ladder system for rooflight domes to make climbing up and down safer. Third place and € 1500 went to Rainer Rathje. After some tools were stolen from his company car, he equipped his tool bag with a tracker. The idea already paid off during a second theft attempt. The three winners describe their ideas in detail – see the interview with Simon Dahm here.
Award ceremony in September
‘Once again the three winning ideas show how innovative and creative our colleagues at SPIE are,’ said Clarissa Hack, who coordinated the idea contest at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa. ‘On behalf of the jury, I congratulate the winners and thank all who took part. Your ideas are important and help SPIE to keep getting better.’ The awards will be presented at a ceremony during the ONE SPIE on Tour event in Langen.
